Comments on: REVIEW: Dark Angels by Karleen Koen

By: Emma

Emma — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 03:14:14 +0000

I guess I’ve got to track down Now Face to Face! Thanks for the heads up on that one!

Cheers,
Emma

By: DS

DS — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:56:32 +0000

I just checked Amazon and Now Face to Face is currently available for pre-order in paperback for $10.85 in the US. It’s due to come out 1/8/08

By: Jayne

Jayne — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:38:35 +0000

Emma, Alice definitely matures over the course of DARK ANGELS. She starts out as a very opinionated young woman who thinks she knows it all. Her opinion should be the only one that counts and all her friends among the maids of honor should defer to her and what she thinks is best. And if anyone dares cross her, her pride kicks in and she will not forgive anyone not doing as she thinks best. She loses one dear friend and it takes a life or death situation to get her to the bedside of the other.

By: Janine

Janine — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 03:35:23 +0000

Emma, I haven’t read any of Koen’s books, but there was another novel in between Through a Glass Darkly and Dark Angels; a sequel to TAGD called Now Face to Face. It came out a decade after TAGD.

By: Lynne

Lynne — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 00:41:57 +0000

I almost bought this book on Saturday. Now I wish I had! :-)

By: Emma

Emma — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:12:31 +0000

Alice is indeed the grandmother of Through a Glass Darkly’s heroine. I really did love TAGD, though I have no idea whether it would stand the test of time were I to re-read it today. In TAGD, Widow/Grandma Alice’s marriage is spoken of as though it were the grandest of romances and happy-ever-afters — so I’m most excited to read this one.

Alice is such a cool character in TAGD — one of the only sympathetic women in it (especially in contrast to her horrific daughter) — so I’m puzzled and intrigued by the idea that she isn’t very sympathetic throughout most of this novel! I’m curious as well about why it took Koen so long to put this book out, especially since TAGD was such a smash hit. Did she write some other novel in between TAGD and Dark Angels that I somehow managed to miss?

By: Leslie Kelly

Leslie Kelly — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:38:17 +0000

Ahh–gotcha. Thanks. I loved TAGD and will check this out.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:25:17 +0000

No, it can’t be the same person. If you reread the paragraph, I think you can see why. I believe Alice is the grandmother of the heroine of “Darkly.”

By: Leslie Kelly

Leslie Kelly — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:20:59 +0000

Jayne…is the Barbara you mentioned in the review the same heroine from Through A Glass Darkly? I never read Now Fade To Face so I wasn’t sure who she ended up with.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:08:08 +0000

Hmmmm, Barbara. That’s what I was afraid of. Though I think you’re right and it’s not really marketed or promised to be a romance. I just like a little romance in my historical fiction even it it’s just a tad. Maybe one day I’ll give it a try…

By: Jayne

Jayne — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:06:42 +0000

Isn’t the cover gorgeous? And the hardcover one is nice too. I’ll be honest and say I debated buying the ebook version for ages then finally decided to take the plunge with a paperback so that I could return it if it didn’t take my fancy. Needless to say, I’m not returning it!

By: Barbara B.

Barbara B. — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:53:41 +0000

You’re right, Jayne. The book didn’t really have a happy ending. Is the book even listed as a romance? I don’t remember a lot of struggle, but there was certainly heartache. Honestly, I was just fascinated by the characters, particularly the grandmother. The heroine fell in love and was married, but no, the book didn’t follow genre romance rules. It was more like a coming of age story for the heroine.

By: vanessa jaye

vanessa jaye — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:01:50 +0000

One of these books (or maybe both. heh) is buried in my tbr boxes, which have yet to be unpacked. I was caught by the cover art, and the back blurb, but haven’t read a review on either of them till now.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:35:34 +0000

DS, that’s interesting to know about the reprint of book two. When I started looking at these two, I saw that it wasn’t currently available and that the used copies were going for a pretty penny.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:34:39 +0000

Barbara, it’s the whole lengthy saga thing. And the fact that from what I’ve read, the heroine doesn’t really have a very happy ending in store for her. Is there much romance in the book? Or just lots of struggle and heartache?

By: DS

DS — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:32:09 +0000

I’ve been waffling on this one. Audible has this available for download, unabridged–18 hours long. I have had Through a Glass Darkly for years and somehow never been inspired to read it. The third one is supposed to be reprinted in 2008.

By: Barbara B.

Barbara B. — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:26:19 +0000

Jayne, now I’m curious. What aspects of the story were you put off by?

By: Jayne

Jayne — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:07:23 +0000

Barbara I was going to ask if anyone had read her other books in this series, sequels aren’t they? I was a bit put off by the descriptions of “Through a Glass Darkly.”

By: Jayne

Jayne — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:06:00 +0000

Oh Marg, I’ve got so many “have to read this,” “mean to read this” books on my shelves it’s not funny. I know where you’re coming from.

By: Barbara B.

Barbara B. — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:59:28 +0000

WOW! I absolutely love this historical era. I loved Through A Glass Darkly, too. Thanks for the heads-up on this book. I didn’t even know it had been written.

Thanks for the review, Jayne. Now I’ve got to rush over to Fictionwise and buy the book.